THORNHILL, Ont. — Religious facilities such as places of worship and community centres that are often targeted by racist vandals would be able to tap into a $75-million fund to beef up security if the Liberals form the next federal government, Leader Stephane Dion said Thursday.

The program would offer the facilities up to $250,000 in matching money for security-related renovations, equipment and training.

"When a library burned in the Jewish school of my riding, I felt that my children were under attack,'' Dion said at a Jewish centre where members of a neighbouring mosque had been invited.

"Protection is one of the main goals of a government.''

Numerous ethno-cultural institutions across Canada have been attacked and vandalized in recent years, including mosques, Hindu temples, cemeteries and the Jewish school in Montreal in March 2004.

Dion said such organizations have had to spend money on security at the expense of delivering core programs to their communities. Others, he said, simply don't even have the cash to implement security measures.

The new fund would help defray those expenses.

The recommendations flow out of a Liberal task force on communities at risk that found a "critical need'' for a federal program, Dion said.

He denounced a $3-million test project announced last year by the minority Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as woefully inadequate.

"We don't need a pilot project,'' Dion said. "We know that a problem exists.''

In response, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day defended the test program and said the government doesn't need security lessons from the "soft-on-terror'' Liberals.

"Thirteen years of Liberal inaction didn't get the job done in protecting ethno-communities at risk,'' John Brent said in an e-mail on Day's behalf.

"Now, after two years in opposition, the best they can offer is a press release.''

Under the Dion plan, non-profit religious-based programs would require an accredited security audit before applying.

If the Liberals win office, the program would be retroactive to November 2005 so "the years that have been lost will not be lost,'' Dion said.

The Liberal Leader also railed against the Conservatives' new immigration bill, calling it "deplorable'' that the government tried to "hide'' it in a budget bill.

The bill would give the immigration minister too much power and do nothing to ease a backlog of immigration applications, he said, insisting the Liberals will vote against it.

However, in keeping with several other government bills the Liberals have "adamantly'' opposed, Dion was clear he would not bring down the government over the bill, which he said should be seen as a "marker, not a trigger'' for an election.

While the New Democrats have the luxury of voting against everything, the Liberals have a larger responsibility not only to protest against Conservative measures, but to replace the government, he said.

"To replace (them), I need to maximize the likelihood that Canadians will give to themselves a progressive government in the next election,'' Dion said.

"(But) I don't feel that Canadians are adamant to have an election today.''